Thursday, October 31, 2013

This blog post came to us in an email from Shannon Bundy, the Assistant Site Supervisor at the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder. Mandy also read her poem "Cupcake Thief" to the preschool class, and you can see that on the June 25, 2013 post on this Imagine! Voices blog.

On Tuesday, Imagine! Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome resident Mandy visited the preschool class of Site Supervisor Chantelle’s daughter to read a special Halloween poem to the kids. Mandy wrote the poem herself. Mandy said, "The Halloween poem was for a preschool so I had to make it not scary but as entertaining as possible." Below is her poem and a photo of her reading the poem. Great work, Mandy! "On Halloween the children dress and go Trick or Treating. Some of the children see how much candy they can eat before they go to sleep. The children walk up and down Trick or Treat street. When they run out of candy the Children were not happy. Then all the children lined up on the sidewalk and people who work at Hammons candy factory would fill the top of this special electric truck that only came out on Halloween. Someone who worked at the factory would program it to go to their address and they would program it to go back to the candy factory."

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

This blog post came to us in an email from Cindy Newell, the mother of Lindsey who receives support services from Imagine!. Thanks Cindy, Dwight, and Lindsey for sharing these photos and the story with us.

If you might be looking for any pictures of activities, we took Lindsey to Montana in September. Here are some of the pictures from the trip. This was a big deal, Lindsey hadn't been to see her extended family in Montana for over 7 years. She is helping make garlic bread in one picture, went for a walk to the lake by grandma's house, and there's a family picture with all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandpa. That group picture is not good, it was outdoors at night with not a good flash on the phone.
But you can see that Lindsey was enjoying the moments. Heart warming!

Lindsey and her mom Cindy at the Montana border.

Lindsey by the lake near grandma's house.

Lindsey helping to make garlic bread.

Lindsey and her family. Lindsey's dad Dwight is in the
black shirt on the far right.

Friday, October 25, 2013

This blog post came to us during a visit to the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder, Colorado.

The residents of the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome are getting in the Halloween spirit. Here’s a picture of Lana with a pumpkin she picked from staff member Claudette Moloney’s garden. The residents decided they’d paint it and decorate it rather than carve it. They said that will be less dangerous, easier, and more fun than carving it. We will share a photo of the decorated jack-o-lantern once it is finished.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

This blog post came to us during a visit to the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome Monday night. John is talking about going to the circus earlier this month on October 5th.

It was really good. There were elephants, clowns, trapeze, and a girl inside a rocket who was shot off into a net. That was unbelievable. Even the juggling people did their thing, and the music was really cool. There was a circus band. It was a whole lot of fun. The next Saturday I went to the IMAX. There was a movie about a furry animal that lives in a hole and digs. It's a little bit bigger than a rabbit, but I don't know its name. I'm looking forward to Halloween. I'll make some cards with pumpkins, black cats, witches, and ghosts. My IP (Annual Planning Meeting) is next month, so it's time for me to think about what goals I want to have for next year. Bye for now.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

This blog post came to us this morning in a phone call from David. He had been laid off the past two weeks from his job at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder due to the government shut down. David has worked at NIST for 37 years! "Did you hear the great news? I got a phone call from work this morning telling me I can go back to work next Tuesday. I'm really happy to be going back to work, but it should not have taken so long for them to settle this and I'm not happy about that." Just last week, during an interview with David as he worked on his story for Imagine!'s "50 Years 50 Stories" that have been posted weekly in Imagine! CEO Mark Emery's blog throughout 2013 in honor of Imagine!'s 50th anniversary, David made a somewhat profound but right on the money, sensible statement about the government shutdown and the impact it had on his life.I don’t want unemployment,
I want to work. I don’t have time to
just sit around.” Well David, we're glad you and thousands of others get to return to work next week, and we're proud of you for your tremendous work ethic.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

This blog post came to us during a visit to the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome where Rebecca lives.

Rebecca was putting away the lunch she made for the following day and asked that her picture be taken with her new walker. The new walker has a support strap that goes around Rebecca’s waist, and she told us that the advantages of her new walker over her previous walker are that this one helps her to walk a little slower, provides better support, and is more safe for her than her previous walker.

Friday, October 11, 2013

This blog post came to us earlier this week during a visit to the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder. Imagine!'s 50th anniversary is in the home stretch, but it's nice to see there is still some Imagine! 50th anniversary beer floating around.

Pictured are Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome residents Gerald and Donna outside their home with some of the Imagine! 50th anniversary beer made by Twisted Pine Brewery, where Gerald is employed.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

This blog post came to us Monday night during a visit to the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder.

Pictured are Gerald and Donna with Gerald’s new phone that he bought just a few days ago. When asked if having a job at Twisted Pine Brewery and earning a pay check played a role in Gerald being able to purchase the phone, Gerald got a big grin on his face and replied, “Yeah.” After this photo was taken, Donna asked the photographer if she could program his phone number into her and Gerald's cell phones. The photographer sheepishly replied, "It's OK with me, but I don't know how to program phone numbers into cell phones." Donna wryly smiled and stated, "I don't need you to do that for me, I know how to do that. I just need your phone number." Now THAT is cool!

Monday, October 7, 2013

This blog post came to us in a phone call from Jessica on September 11th, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on our country. This blog post got postponed during the Colorado flood, but we still want to share Jessica’s thoughts with you about September 11th, 2001.

“Hi. I called to talk to you about today being the anniversary of the 9/11. I think it’s a tragedy it happened. I have a lot of family and friends back there in New York City, and it was too bad to be so far away. This morning at 8:46 I thought of the attacks, that’s when the first plane flew into one of the buildings. Today is kind of an interesting day: the rain and the clouds make it a dreary day and it kind of fits in with this being the anniversary of the attacks. I feel sorry for the state of New York that this happened. I wore my 9/11 hat today. It has the twin towers on the hat (pictured below), and says FDNY. I put firefighter and police pins on the hat, a flag, and ‘I Love NY’ and Yankee symbols too. I also have old pictures of the twin towers in books. I’ll bet that when the Broncos play the Giants in New York tomorrow night they’ll talk about 9/11. I saw some stuff on TV about 9/11 but it reaches a point where you don’t want to hear any more. It is depressing.

Friday, October 4, 2013

This blog post came to us in an email from Shannon Bundy, the Assistant Site Supervisor at the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome in Boulder.

This past Sunday I took all the Bob and Judy Charles SmartHome ladies to lunch at BJs. We had a great time. Mandy got gluten free pizza, Rebecca got pizza, Donna got chicken fingers, Rae got pasta, and Lana got a chicken salad. This very nice gentleman sitting behind us bought us a 50 dollar gift card to help pay for the lunch! All the girls said thanks to the man, and Donna said, "There needs to be more people like that."